Page 77 of His Contract Queen

Only one person can make him freeze like that.

My tongue runs slowly along the backs of my teeth.

“You could ignore it,” I say.

The suggestion hangs in the air for a moment.

It’s a stupid one. We both know it. Even the tone in my voice makes it obvious I’m not serious. Maybe if we were a little more suicidal, that might have been something worth considering. Hell, even a year ago, I might have toyed with the idea purely out of spite. Recklessness has always come naturally to me, anyway.

But that was before Katerina.

Before Sasha had Alina.

Now the stakes are different. Sasha and I both have far too much to lose by pretending Nikolai Malyshko doesn’t exist and toyingwith the idea that ignoring his summons, even if by phone call, won’t have massive repercussions. Even if the idea of doing so is… tempting.

He lets out a slow exhale through his nose before lifting the phone up slowly. His thumb hovers over the accept button for a second, weighing whether the call is worth answering at all or if the punishment for not doing so will be far better for him in the long run.

When he finally answers, he doesn’t bother with pleasantries.

“Malyshko.”

I can’t hear the other side, but I don’t need to. I watch Sasha’s face instead. The casual neutrality he’d been wearing moments ago vanishes beneath the quiet intensity that only surfaces when he’s dealing with someone he cannot simply dismiss. His eyes narrow slightly as Nikolai speaks.

Whatever is being said on the other end isn’t friendly.

The muscle in his cheek jumps when he clenches his teeth, a sharp twitch beneath his skin that betrays the irritation he’s trying to keep under control. He exhales slowly through his nose, forcing himself to remain silent while whatever reprimand is being delivered spills through the receiver.

“I’m not asking for Pact sanction,” Sasha says after a long beat. “This is my decision. My resources. That’s all.”

There’s another pause, longer this time.

I can almost picture Nikolai on the other end of the line leaning back in the high-backed chair in his war room, fingers steepled, voice quiet in the way that always makes the temperature in any room drop ten degrees.

Sasha’s shoulders square. “Then consider it a personal matter. Not business.”

Whatever Nikolai says next makes Sasha flinch. Just a flicker, but I catch it all the same. His free hand curls into a fist at his side. “I understand the consequences. You did the same for me once. Neither of us can pretend this is out of the blue.”

Silence stretches so long, I start counting the seconds in my head.

Finally, the call ends without another word. He sets it down carefully on the table, then grips the edge of the table with both hands and leans his weight forward. His shoulders brace as though he’s holding himself steady against something heavier than the conversation I just watched unfold.

Whatever had been said clearly struck a nerve with him.

“Well,” he says simply. “That went as poorly as I thought it would.” His gaze drifts briefly across the maps spread beneath his hands before he adds, “Though, I’m surprised he already knows we’re moving out.”

Before I can stop myself, I speak. “I think he has surveillance on me.”

Sasha’s eyes tick up to meet mine. “He bugged you?”

“I believe so. Yes. For quite some time now. How else would he have known about Katerina?”

Sasha straightens slightly, studying me now with a more focused intensity. His eyes narrow just a fraction, the gears in his head visibly beginning to turn as he works through the implications of what I’ve just said.

No one likes the idea that the Pact’s king might have eyes inside one of our houses. Unfortunately, if he has been watching me, there isn’t much we can do about it now.

Not tonight, at least.

Sasha’s mouth opens as if he’s about to answer, then slowly closes again. A small grunt leaves him instead because there isn’t really anything to argue.